Sightseeing

Jess was here for Christmas & New Year and we took her sightseeing in Cambridge, Woburn Safari Park & London.

Cambridge

A shot of the view of Kings College in Cambridge.

Woburn


It's best not to walk in when the animals are looking at you as thought you are their food!!

London

Train ride to London Kings Cross Station


The crowd at Buckingham Palace for the change of guards.


Big Ben


House of Parliament


London Eye


Westminister Abbey


Tower Bridge


At Piccadilly Circus Tube station, waiting for the train.

And of course, the shopping experience in UK (including queuing in the cold for NEXT sale at 5am in Cambridge)!!

Turkey

This year, I had ordered a free-range turkey from the Bury Lane farm shop instead of buying it off the supermarket's shelf.

Hope it's worth the money. Cost £8.75 per kg and the turkey I ordered was the smallest at 4kg. Seriously doubt the 4 of us would be able to finish it but it's the smallest turkey they have!!

According to this article, the most expensive turkey is the Whole organic free-range Devon bronze turkey from M&S, priced at £12.69 per kg. So expensive!!

Christmas Party

Back from last night's Christmas party. The food was good and the dessert was excellent. Thought we had to choose among the 3 choices but we got all 3 in the plate!!!

Christmas Deco

We had done up the Christmas deco in our flat last weekend and the result....

Secret Santa

Sam is having Secret Santa this Friday at his office and he bought the demotivator calendar from Despair.com for his colleague. The calendar came last Sat in this..


Front


Back


with a booklet of products


2 calendars (one for Sam himself!!)

Christmas Gifts



We did have some unexpected gifts this year. Thanks for the gifts!!! & Happy New Year to everyone.

Christmas Dinner



Took me about 3 hours to finish cooking this dinner!! It's definitely a dinner for more than 3 person.... we got sooo much left over, can still have it for tomorrow breakfast, lunch and dinner....

See Jaster blog for more pictures of my cooking.

Beautiful roses from Sam who cycle out in the cold to get it... My Christmas present... Thank you very the much...

Christmas grocery shopping

Went to Sainsbury to stock up for Christmas and I ended up spending 92 pounds!! Don't try to tell me how much it is in Singapore Dollars!!

Items I bought includes 3 bottles of wine, chocolates, crisps, fruits, Christmas dinner stuffs (turkey not bought yet), etc....

Too much things and our fridge are small, thus decided to put the drinks near the window so that it will be chilled.



The weather is very cold at the moment with dense fog around since early this week. Had not seen sunlight for quite sometime now and according to weather forecast, the fog will be around till Christmas.

Christmas turkey






Oh boy, the turkey we had last night was delicious!!! So here's the recipe

Turkey recipe
Turkey (I bought the smallest which is for 4-6 people and weight 4.2 kg)
250g unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic (minced)
Thyme
Pepper
Salt
1 white onion (cut in half)
4 cloves garlic

1. Soften the butter with a wooden spoon and add the minced garlic, thyme, pepper and salt.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
3. Cover the turkey with the mixed butter using your hands. Also using your fingers, loosen the skin of the turkey and stuff the mixed butter between the skin and the turkey breast.
4. Stuff the onion and cloves garlic in between the skin.
5. Place the turkey in the roasting tray and cook for 3 and a half hour (for 4.2 kg turkey).
6. Every half an hour, take the turkey out of the oven and pour the oil in the baking tray over the turkey. (This is to ensure that the turkey will not be too dry and will taste juicy)
7. Halfway through roasting, take out the turkey and turn it around in order to roast the other side. At the same time, take out the onion and garlic stuff in between the skins (ready to be serve later on).
8. Remember step 6 after this and the turkey will come out nicely done.
9. Ready to serve.

Brussels sprouts recipe
1. Wash and boil the brussels sprouts for 10 mins.
2. Take out the brussels sprouts and shallow fry them with butter for a few minutes. (this is to add fragrance to it).
3. Ready to serve.

Sage and Onion Stuffing
1. A packet of PAXO Sage and Onion Stuffing.
2. Mix as per instructions on the packet. (which is to add water and a knob of butter)
3. Form the mixture into balls and bake on a greased baking sheet for 25 mins. (I love it crispy, thus used this option.)

Roast potatoes
Too lazy so had bought frozen roast potatoes, just need to pop them in the oven.

Roast turkey gravy
Well, just buy those packet ones and follow the instructions.
Add some of the oil from the turkey for a fuller taste.